Fitting seat belts to my Series 1

[JimUSA]

I recently completed a restoration of my 1955 86" (see pics in other thread) and wanted to post some of my lessons learned that may help others.


First: seat belts. I (or actually my wife) wanted seat belts in the vehicle even through as far as I know there was no provision for belts in any Series 1 vehicle. Plus my vehicle is a soft top so there is nothing to which to attach shoulder belts.


After looking around a bit I stumbled across a seat belt bar from Exmoor trim: Seat Belts : Soft Top Front Seat Belt Bar. This is designed for a soft top Series 2/3 but it (mostly) fits in a Series 1 -- a few washers to take up some extra space worked just fine. The pics on the web site show how it is attached. This bar allows attachment of shoulder belts (at least for the left and right side seats -- middle seat is out of luck). Exmoor also sells shoulder belts that work with the bar.


But while this solves one problem there is still another -- there is nothing (except some thin aluminium) to anchor the belt receivers between the seats. I wanted a nice strong connection and noticed the rather solid looking chassis cross rail just below the seat box -- that seemed like the ticket. So working with the bloke who helped repair the chassis, we fabricated the bracket in the attached pics. This bolts through the chassis rail and provides a shelf right under the center panel between the seats. It cost a bit but provides a very solid base for anchoring the receiver ends of the seat belts. I did have to drill two holes in the middle panel between the seats, and you have to remove the belt receivers if you need to take the middle panel out, but it's not much of a problem.


So when I showed up at the motor registry (in ACT) with this set up they asked if I had an "engineer's certificate" for the seat belts. I'm from the US and had never heard of this, and explained this in my best American accent. They called the supervisor over who took one look at the vehicle, then at me, sort of rolled his eyes and just waved at the inspection guys and that was that -- got the full rego. I can't promise your experience will be the same -- maybe I just had a lucky day.


They did make me take the middle seat out. I have also fitted an overdrive which adds a shift level -- I guess that was one too many levers for their liking and does not leave much room for legs and things. So they said I had to remove the middle seat and the middle lap belt I had fitted. I don't miss it much, and my kids wouldn't want to sit in the middle anyway. Plus it gives some elbow room for driver and passenger.


Cheers, Jim

[101RRS]

You were very lucky - Canberra motor rego people are a bit of a pain. You should have definitely had an engineers certificate. If I had know you were going this route I would have recommended to get it registered without seatbelts and do the mod later.

Also if the series 1 was otherwise unmodified and had previously been registered anywhere in Aust you did not need to go to Dickson but any garage that does inspections could have done it.

But nevertheless a good outcome - now it is time to have fun.

Garry

[JimUSA]

When I bought the vehicle it was unregistered, and the previous owner (who had it for two years) told me he bought it from a farmer who had not registered it. I called ACT and NSW and they had no record of the vehicle ever having been registered, which I think means it was not in the computer so probably not registered for at least 30 years. All I had was a "Bill of Sale" which I created from scratch on the computer and had the previous owner sign. So given this I had to go to Dickson. It did take a couple of passes through inspection (had to add mud flaps, rear reflectors, and a few other things) but they did eventually grant full rego.

Sounds like maybe I did get lucky -- let's hope they don't check up on me -- in fact maybe I shouldn't be talking about this on the web -- you never know who might be listening...

[101RRS]

Their requirement to remove the centre seat is not correct but you can always put it back.

Garry